Machine for dyeing articles



I May 19, 1925. 1,538,162

F. BROWN ET AL MACHINE FOR DYEING ARTICLES Filed March 1'7, 1924 2Sheets-Sheet 1 31AM Mmmm@ May 19, 1925'. 1,538,162

F. BROWN ET AL MACHINE FOR DYEING ARTICLES Filed March 1'7., 192.4 2Sheets-Sheet 2 .t @MSP-l MAMAQMWMQ attoznm Patented May 19, 1925.

FRANKLIN BROWN `.AND GEORGE SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA.

Application led March 17, 1924. Seria No. 699,901;

To all who/1n t may concern.' l

Be 1t known that we, FRANKLIN Baow 'and GEORGE SMITH, citizens of theUnited Sta-tes, and residents of Philadelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphia and State of Fennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Machines for Dyeing Articles, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our present invention relates to an apparatus for dyeing articles suchas hosiery, or the like.

The principal object of our invention is the provision of means wherebytheI articles may be kept in agitation while in Contactv with the dyeingmedium or liquor. l

Another important object is the provision of such means as above, whichwill maintain the liquor itself in a constant state of agitation so thatpockets of various concentration will not be formed, with the resultthat the.

articles to be dyed will take the coloring evenly.

Still another object of our invention is the provision of such means asabove which will hold a plurality of articles simultaneously, yet whichwill allow articles to be removed from the dye bath as may be de sired,and, which will be simple in construction, efficient in operation and oflow cost to manufacture.

To this end our invention includes a tank of any desired construction orconfiguration to hold the dye liquor, to the top of which are attachedsupporting nremberscarrying between themselves a rotatable axle whichmay be caused to rotate by any suitable mechanism, with which thisinvention is not concerned. The rotatable axle is provided with flangesor outwardly extending portions near its ends and means to hold thearticles to be dyed are removably attached between said flanges oroutwardly extending portions. It has been found expedient to utiliaolweb bags to hold the articles to be dyed, and in the preferredembodiment of our invent-ion we employ a plurality of rods detachablyheld in parallelism to the axle and between the flanges at its ends. Arod is threaded to the web bag'which contains the article to be dyed,and then put in position. 'lhe mechanism may now be started, or startingbe postponed until the entire 11u1nber of rods with which the axle isprovided are each supplied with their bag. The axle is suspended fromthe cover ofthe tank to vform of thedevice.

an extent which will allow the bags to be l entirely submerged in thedye liquor at all times. f

It will bequite apparent that as` these bags rotateithey will, ofthemselves act as paddles, vwhich will keep the dye liquor in a constantstate of agitation which will prevent formation of pockets or spots inthev dye liquor of 'greater concentration than others.

XVe have illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, the preferredembodiment of our invention, although it is understood that we do notwish to be limited thereto. In these drawings Figure 1 is a sectionalelevation through the dye tank, showing the rotating mechal nism.

F10'. 2 .is a side elevation of a modified Fig. 3 is a plan view ofFig. 1. f

Fig. l is a sectional elevation of the rotating mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a detail.

Referring now with particularity `to the drawings, we have illustratedthe tank `diagrammatically at 1, having a cover 2 of any desired form,which, in this instance, is prorvided with a trap 3 for viewing thearticles during the process of dyeing;

' Attached to the under side of the cover 2 we provide depending journalirons l and il. An axle shaft shown at 6 is provided with flanges 7intermediate each end of the axle 6, although in proximity to the endsthereof for a purpose to be more fully Sdescribe hereinafter. The axle 6is journaled in the irons 4 and 5, as indicated by the bearings 8 and 9respectively. The axle 6 extends beyond the bearing 9 and has attachedthere to a gear element 10 which is in mesh with a similar gear 11, alsomounted on the iron 5 as at 172. This upper gear 11 may be.

driven from without the tank by any suitable means, not shown.

The .flanges 7 are perforated 'near their periphery as at 13, thatyflange adjacent the gear 10 having a plate 14- secured thereto whichcovers the perforations on that side. The flange 7 adjacent the bearing8 is also provided with a plate 15 which, in this in-v stance is notattached to the flange but has a central aperture 16 through which theend of the axle 6 passes. l l

A collar 17 is attached to the shaft 6 adjacent the bearing 8 for thepurpose of preventing` lateral slip of the shaft during the operation ofthe device. A coil spring 19 is heldbetween the collar 1T and the plate15, and exerts pressure against the latter forcing this against theouter' face of the flange 7. Various means to hold the articles that areto be dyed Will occur to those skilled in the art, but We have found itconvenient to utilize short lengths of rods 20, of any desired material,held in corresponding perforations in the two flanges i' on the axle 6.ln order to insert or remove a rod from the device, the end of therodsocketed in a perforation in the flange 7 adjacent the spring-pressedplate 15, is forced against the plate which gives under action of thespring and the opposite end of the rod may then be placed in thecorresponding perforation in the opposite flange. T, the spring 19forcing the plate 15 against the flange 7, which effectively retains therod 2O in position. This may be repeated as often as desired until allthe perforatiensin the two flanges '7 are filled with rods. fore placingthese rods in position, Webbed bags 21 holding the articles Q2 to bedyed, are threaded upon the rods so that they appear as'illustrated.

Obviously in place of solid flanges 7 We niay make use of extended arms28 projecting outwardly in a radial manner from vthe axle 6 and rods orother holding means attached to the ends of the arms 28.

ln operation of the preferred form of the device, the articles havingbeen placed in their bags and the bags upon the rods 20, the rotatingmechanism is started and the bags 21 containing the articles 22 are.

made to rotate about the axle G. rl`his effectively keeps the dye liquorin constant agitation while at the same time bringing the articles to bedyed in contact with the liquor at all parzs of the tank.

incase the bagsot substantially the same size as that illustrated at 21are held on extending arms 23, gravity would hold them in substantiallyvertical position on those,

so that as the rod 20 to which the bag is attached reaches the positiondirectly over the axle 6, the bag would pass between the rod and theaxle.

In the claim wherein We speak of a flange on the axle, is to beunderstood that this may also include an outstanding arm, as this isclearly an equivalent of a solid flange.

By reason of these instrupn'ientalities it will be apparent that theusual mechanism necessary to rotate the Whole drum or tank whichcontains the dye liquor may be dispensed with and very simple rotatingmechanism substituted therefor.

It will also, be seen that the articles yto be dyed are positively `heldin place and cannot float looselyabout the dye liquor to become tangledin the mechanism or with other undesirable results.. By holding thearticles in the bag and attaching the bag securely to the rotating axle,the articles to be dyedare kept from contact with the metallic sides ofthe tank or other material of which the. liquor container is made.

It is understood that the tank is to be filled with `the dye liquor tothe point so that the articles will be completely submerged atall pointsof the operation.

Itis to be understood that various forms of receptacles to hold thearticles to be dyed might be employed, which Will rotate about theirsupporting nien'rber as the mechanism rotates, in addition to thereceptacle shown.

Having thus described our invention.,

What We claim isv :1-

In a dyeing machine the combination of a rotatable member, rods heldthereon, coutainers held on said rods and adapted to re-` ceive articlesto be dyed, a flange on each end of said rotatable member, said rodsbeing held in said flanges, and a spring pressed plate retaining saidrods in said flanges.

lfn testimony whereof, we atlix our signatures.

FRANKLlN BROVN. GEORGE SMITH.

